Vans and sport utility vehicles (“SUVs”) have become a popular means of transportation partly because of their flexibility and multi-faceted utility. For example, a van may on one occasion be utilized to transport a number of passengers and on another occasion be used to transport a variety of cargo, or even a combination of both. Because of the demands on the versatility of such vehicles, it has become a fairly common practice to design a vehicle's rear seats so they can be converted, folded, stored or removed in order to extend the amount of cargo space available. Some seating arrangements are more accommodating than others. Some are designed to engage the floor until released, enabling them to be removed from the vehicle for storage. Other designs provide rollers to assist the user in removing the seating arrangement from the vehicle. Thus, given enough notice, a user needing to extend the available cargo space in a vehicle may remove seating in advance of picking up and loading the cargo.
However, in a fast-paced and hyperactive society, it is not always possible to plan far enough ahead of time to remove a vehicle's seating to convert the space for cargo. In some situations a driver may have to turn down opportunities to pick up and transport cargo because the need arose while the driver was away from home, that is, somewhere where it was impractical to remove the rear seating and securely store it. The designers of automobiles have partially accommodated this dilemma by making the seats in some vans and SUVs foldable toward the front of the cargo space, storable in the floor body or foldable against the wall of the vehicle. However, those designs that provide for a convertible seating in the form of a folding jump seat generally face problems concerning appearance, comfort, safety and practicality. Some of the seating that is storable within the vehicle remains coupled to the floor during storage, thereby obstructing a portion of the floor space. Therefore, it is desirable to have a safe, comfortable and easily storable seat that may be folded and stored within the cargo area of a vehicle to expand the cargo space and maximize floor space while also being quickly and easily removable in order to maximize the total available cargo space. Likewise it is desirable to have that same seating arrangement be quickly and easily reinstalled by the consumer without the need for tools or additional assistance.